(WHTM) – Lehigh County Controller and former Auditor General candidate Mark Pinsley (D) has filed to run for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 7th District, currently held by freshman Congressman Ryan Mackenzie (R).

Pinsley lost the Democratic Auditor General primary in April 2024 to Malcolm Kenyatta, receiving about 35% of the vote.

A former township commissioner, Pinsley served in the Army Reserves and was a small business owner. He touted himself in the Auditor General primary as the only Democrat “with years of experience with auditing the government.”

The 7th District Democratic primary is shaping up to be one of Pennsylvania’s most competitive in the 2026 election cycle. Former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, former PPL executive Carol Obando-Derstine, and former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure have each filed for the race.

Mackenzie won the seat representing Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties, as well as parts of Monroe County, by about 4,000 votes.